Molecular Analysis of Abscission Zone Development

植物器官脱落几乎是一种普遍现象。在生态和适应方面，它可以灵活地处理压力、伤害和授粉失败。它适合果实和种子的传播和季节性休眠。在经济上，它在叶片去除，花/幼果去除和成熟果实收获方面变得重要。在农业情况下，促进或减少叶、花/幼果或成熟果实的脱落是可取的。分离可分为三个阶段。首先，形成一个可能发生脱落的区域——脱落带（脱落带）；第二，器官与植物的实际分离；第三，在区域的近端形成一层细胞保护层。虽然已经对完全发育的AZs细胞之间的细胞分离过程进行了很好的研究，但某些细胞分化为脱落带的过程尚未得到很好的理解。本提案中所描述的实验将研究番茄花梗上AZ形成过程中涉及的分子和细胞机制。本项目的长期目标是建立一个可用于研究脱落带发育的基因调控和细胞生物学的模型系统。番茄是一个理想的系统，用来建立这样一个模型系统。该团队希望确定该基因在脱落过程中的作用，并将该基因的表达模式与嵌合植物脱落带的发育联系起来。

Abscission is an almost universal phenomenon by which plants shed organs. In terms of ecology and adaptation, it allows flexibility in dealing with stresses, injuries, and failure of pollination. It accommodates fruit and seed dispersal and seasonal dormancy. Economically it becomes important in terms of leaf removal, flower/young fruit removal, and mature fruit harvest. There are agricultural situations where it would be desirable to either promote or reduce leaf, flower/young fruit or mature fruit abscission. Abscission can be divided into three stages. First, the development of a region where abscission will occur --- the abscission zone (AZ); second, the actual separation of the organ from the plant; and third, the formation of a protective layer of cells on the proximal end of the zone. Although the process of cell separation between cells of fully developed AZs has been well investigated, the process by which certain cells differentiate as an abscission zone is not well understood. Experiments described in this proposal will examine the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the process by which an AZ forms on tomato pedicels. The long term goals of this program are to establish a model system that can be utilized to study the gene regulation and cell biology of abscission zone development. Tomato is an ideal system with which to set up such a model system. The PI hopes to determine the role of the jointless gene in the abscission process and relate the pattern of expression of this gene with the development of abscission zones in chimeric plants.